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AMISTAD FOUNDATION Telling HisStory Volume 1 Issue 1 October 2012 Focus on Guatemala Inside: The foreign mission work of Misioneros de la Frontera The local ministry of Mike Stephens as the “wingless servant” and The Tanzania Tool Box

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Online magazine for HisStory Productions ministry. Tells stories of missionaries and ministries who are extending the Kingdom of God throughout the world.

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Page 1: Telling HisStory

AMISTAD FOUNDATION

Telling

HisStoryVolume 1 Issue 1 October 2012

Focus on Guatemala

Inside: The foreign mission work of Misioneros de la Frontera

The local ministry of Mike Stephens as the “wingless servant” and The Tanzania Tool Box

Page 2: Telling HisStory

Just a word

I am so excited about this first issue of Telling HisStory Magazine! I hope you will read the articles, join me in praising the Lord for the work that is going on in the Kingdom and share them with someone else.

In this quarterly publication we will attempt to cover stories in each area of mission outreach - local, domestic and foreign. As the stories come in we will bring them to you.

This quarter we feature three wonderful ministries. Amistad Foundation is located in Rogers, Arkansas and has it’s focus in Central America, specifically Guatemala. Misioneros de la Frontera is based in Honduras and is a medical and teaching ministry. Then, Mike Stephens is located in Augusta, Georgia and has a “distribution” ministry here but also is building an orphanage school in Tanzania. You will enjoy getting to know these ministries and I hope you will add them to your prayer list and be an encouragment to them.

One of our greatest needs at this time is for volunteers to assist with gathering and writing the stories in order to get them ready to publish. The other big need is contacts.

To volunteer with HisStory Productions you can go to this tab on the website and register with your information: VOLUNTEER!

If you know of missionaries or a mission endeavor that would like some extra exposure for their ministry please have them contact me directly at [email protected] or they can go on the website and register their ministry information under the Missions tab.

This ministry of HisStory Productions is faith-based and dependent upon the Lord for all its resources. To share in this work send your tax deductible donations to:

HisStory Productions302 Scarlett CourtEvan, GA 30809

You can also DONATE ONLINE!

May God bless you in every way!

! ! ! Tony

Tony Wilkerson Founder and Editor

Contributors:

Lynn Wilkerson - Proof readingNorm Wilkerson - Article informationJosh Wilkerson - Website advisor

We welcome your input and suggestions on how we can improve this publication. Please send all correspondence to [email protected]

Page 3: Telling HisStory

2012 F A L L E D I T I O N FREE

Amistad was conceived in the fall of 2004 by Dwayne and Peggy Owens from Rogers, Arkansas. Before founding Amistad Dwayne was in Financial Management for 35 years. He held positions in

Public Accounting (Big 8) and Controller/VP Finance for two international companies.  Following this he owned a management recruiting firm for several years.  Immediately prior to founding Amistad, he served

as a Buyer at Wal-Mart for six years. Amistad Foundation was formally approved by the IRS as a 501 (c) 3 corporation in June, 2005. From the beginning, the focus of this ministry has been in Latin America. - Cont’d page 3

Founders of Amistad Foundation Dwayne and Peggy Owens

SOME OF THE KIDS IN THE SCHOOL IN LALIMONAD

SUPPLIES FOR SCHOOL RIBBON CUTTING FAMILIES OF LALIMONAD

AMISTAD

Page 4: Telling HisStory

There were initially two purposes for the ministry:• To provide an opportunity for

business people to participate in mission trips that would utilize their gifts and talents while serving others and building relationships.

• To develop businesses managed by Christians that would donate a portion of their profits to fund church planters in the local country, which was identified as an immediate need due to the decrease in church planting

support throughout Latin America.

I asked Dwayne to tell me a little bit about how he first got into ministry and what his life was like before he entered the work. “I was working all the time and I didnʼt feel any fulfillment in my life, only a paycheck at the end of the week.  Deep down I knew that God wanted me to do something different but I wasnʼt brave enough to step out! My “Ah-Ha” moment was when I could see events happening all around me that were leading me to stop what I was doing and follow Godʼs will.  With the events that occurred I knew that God was leading me in my effort to make the right decision.”

Dwayne said the greatest fear he had in the beginning was fear of the unknown. He questioned how he and Peggy would survive financially, whether he was “good enough” to do this and how could he be sure this was Godʼs will for him.

Amistad means friendship in Spanish. The foundation is building lifelong friendships in Guatemala.

PHOTOS

WORKING THE FIELDS

BIBLE STUDY

KICKING BACK

DWAYNE AND FRIENDS

Amistad serves the local community in a number of ways:• Fulfills the needs of the

people in the local community

• Initiates long term relationships

• Builds trust• Instills hope for the future

Page 5: Telling HisStory

He confidently affirms that God does indeed provide for every need and in doing that has made his faith stronger than it has ever been. He said, “Total reliance on God is a must.” He encourages others who feel this calling of God to step out in faith and trust God to lead the way. “He will provide for your every need.”

During the first half of 2005, a group of Christian business people in Mexico presented numerous business opportunities. Some of these opportunities were explored with no success. During this time, the idea of conducting business seminars for the purpose of teaching servant leadership evolved. This was an opportunity to involve business people in the USA in mission work and provide a venue to teach Biblical ethics and servant leadership in Latin America. The first business seminar was conducted in Puebla, Mexico in December 2005. Seven businesspersons and their sons from the USA spoke on servant leadership at a seminar attended by 75 local business people. This seminar, though poorly attended, led to some important contacts with local businesspersons.

During early 2006, a decision was made to financially support a church planter in Buenos Aires, Argentina. In support of this effort, the second business seminar was conducted in Argentina in the summer of 2006. The seminar was led by a dozen businesspersons from the USA and was attended by 1,000

local business people. Two weeks later, Amistad led a medical mission as an outreach to a ghetto in Buenos Aires called "Fort Apache". The outcome was that a church was planted in this ghetto during 2007 and continues to grow.

Dwayne says that the thing he loves most about doing this ministry is that he is living his dream. He is helping others show their love of God to people in different cultures. I asked him to give me a metaphor for what it is like to be a part of this work. “Where there is no hope for the future, there is no power for the present,” was his reply.

Amistad serves the local community in a number of ways:• Fulfills the needs of the

people in the local community• Initiates long term

relationships• Builds trust• Instills hope for the future

Some of the specific ways the local community is served is through business seminars, planting churches, providing ways to reach out into the community with local ministry leaders, working with local artisans and small business people to help them market their products and develop their business.

Anyone who desires to serve others and show the love of God to people in a different culture would be a great fit for this ministry. Amistad is always

looking for volunteers to take mission trips into Central and South America to extend the Kingdom of God. One myth that many may believe about serving in short term missions is that you need to have special training or be a Bible scholar in order to minister to others. Dwayne proclaims that is absolutely NOT SO!

Since 2007, Amistad Foundation has been working with missionaries Hugo and Susana Rosales in the area of Baja Verapaz, Guatemala.  This has become the ministry’s primary focus at this time. God directed Hugo and Susana to the village of Santa Cruz where they have been living and working among the people, gaining their trust and respect while living out Jesus before the people.

DID YOU KNOW . . .

1. According to Unicef, almost half of Guatemala’s children are chronically malnourished – the sixth worst performance in the world.  The incidence of stunting, a common indicator of chronic malnutrition, is twice in Guatemala what it is in Haiti.

2. In some regions of Guatemala, malnutrition levels top 90%, among the very highest rate in the world.

3. 54,564 rural families have lost their corn and bean harvests due to prolonged drought.

Almost half of Guatemala’s children are malnourished!

Page 6: Telling HisStory

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE

• $100.00 will feed a family in the village for one month.  This amount will provide 150 pounds of corn, 60 pounds of beans, 1 gallon of cooking oil, and 25 pounds of sugar; plus, each family will be provided fresh chicken once a week.  No money is given, only food.

• $2.00 will provide a nutritional supplement (Incaparina) for one child 10 years old or younger every day for one month.

• $.50 per child will provide protection against parasites.  One pill administered once a month can protect against debilitating, sometimes deadly, diseases.

I asked Dwayne what would be at stake if Amistad Foundation were to disappear. “The souls of the people living in the villages we serve in the mountains of Guatemala,” he replied.

AMISTAD FOUNDATION

Contact Information

P.O. Box 72

Rogers, AR 72758

Website: http://www.amistadfoundation.org/

Email: [email protected]

Amistad is a 501(c)3 foundation. All donations are tax deductible.

Telling HisStory online magazine is a publication of HisStory Productions.Editor and Publisher: Anthony Wilkerson

Page 7: Telling HisStory

Founded in 1999 by TR and Rhonda Sweeney, Misioneros de la Frontera is a Christ-centered, bible-believing, independent miss ion which has served continuously throughout Central America. TR is an ordained Southern Baptist pastor, and Rhonda is a registered nurse with 20 years emergency room experience. They have been working in the cold, high mountains of Central America, mostly in Honduras, with the indigenous Mayan Indians, the Lencas, for more than 13 years.“I was a bureaucrat making an excellent salary while involved in several inner city ministries,” TR said while talking about the life he had before entering this work. “I was in Jocón, Yoro in

Honduras on my first mission trip. As I was leaving the village I looked back into the eyes of two little boys who were waving goodbye and in that moment I knew my destiny was some how tied to this country.”

TR said his greatest fear before launching out into this work was the fear of failure. In working through that experience, he declared “God has not given me a spirit of fear, therefore anytime fear comes around it must be cast out before it an spread. Kinda’ like cockroaches, doncha know?”

Misioneros de la FronteraThe medical mission of TR and Rhonda Sweeney

THE F IELDS OF MISS ION

RHONDA WITH A FRIEND

LOCAL BUS

PASTOR WADE AND TR

VIEW FROM HOME

THE PICTURE BELOW IS OF TR AND A FAMILY AT THE LOCAL CHURCH

Page 8: Telling HisStory

The focus has always been the discipleship of the believers in C e n t r a l A m e r i c a . M a n y evangelistic crusades have won souls but have failed to disciple them or to provide for their adequate discipling. TR and Rhonda believe the greatest need in the Church in the world today is the discipling of not only new converts, but of many existing church members. Their thought is to build the body (of Christ) and they will build the building. Hence, they don't usually work in the construction ministry.

“Discipleship through Medicine, Media and Ministry is the means of our ministry in Central America,” said TR.

Medicine- “Even as Jesus healed the sick and then taught them we also use medicine as an outreach f o r d i s c i p l e s h i p . R h o n d a maintains a free clinic in our compound as well as a mobile clinic visiting villages in the mountains on a rotating basis. C o m b i n i n g s o l i d m e d i c a l treatment with prayer teaches Christians that our Father uses many methods to care for His children's health. By the grace of God, Rhonda has treated over 8,000 patients since 1999. R h o n d a h a s a l s o b r o u g h t advanced burn treatment to this area through the good help of the Stihl Burn Center in Augusta, GA. She has instructed doctors in the use of Norsen debriders as well

nursing staff in the use of advanced burn care materials. In addition, Rhonda has taught burn prevention and care through the Spanish Red Cross, local schools and health departments. Every opportunity to care is an opportunity to share since there is no impact without contact.

Media- We have a recording studio in the compound where we produce Christian TV and radio programs, video classes for the distance learning institute and Christian music cds. Currently, we are on the air on commercial radio and TV 5 prime time hours each week. We are adding another local station to our syndication. We have been syndicated for the last three years with BBN Inter-national and have a half hour program in spanish worldwide at noon on Saturday and noon on Sunday as well as two non-prime time slots.

It is impossible to say how many have been reached for the Lord, but in just Pastor Paulino's church alone he has given this testimony. Full 40% of the congregation was reached directly by the media.

Who knows how many were reached indirectly. The church began broadcasting with us p r o d u c i n g , d i r e c t i n g a n d financing, when there were 20 people attending Sunday morning. Now there are over 200 in attendance! Recently, the church ordained Michael as assistant pastor. Michael was led to the Lord through the TV programs. A woman of the church who is now Director of Discipleship for the church was led to the Lord by the radio ministry. We receive testimonies weekly from lives that are touched throughout the frontier, too many to elaborate here.

Ministry- In addition to serving with five local churches, TR serves as an advisor/teacher/counselor at the Samaritan Drug and alcohol Rehab Center. Teaching a 6:00 am class each morning, and helping guide the recent expansion provide great opportunity to minister to men seeking Christ and a new life.”

“Discipleship through Medicine, Media and Ministry”

Bible Study

Page 9: Telling HisStory

We will celebrate, Lord willing, the sixth anniversary of the Center this December with a grand reunion. Over three thousand men have passed through its classes. In the first two years when records were kept, over 30% of them remained sober after one year. Over 50% made valid professions of faith. After that, we began to receive men from all over the country and were unable to contact them for the one year follow-up. Three years ago, we were evicted from the borrowed site and, due to your help and one giant of a saint, (God knows who you are) we are in the new site up on the mountaintop. But there remains much to be done. The dormitory lacks the showers and toilets. The men shower and use the facility next to the dining hall. The office and clinic remain to be built. With the exception of the help from two U.S. teams the men have built this center themselves through your love and donations. Their food comes from corn planted on the steep side of the mountain and what we can purchase for them. We depend on the rain to grow the corn. No work, no eat. No rain, no eat either. The Center faces, perhaps, its toughest financial challenge since its inception. Please pray for the men, the Center and your involvement in this Kingdom work.”

TR recounted the story of Marcos, a man he met this summer: “MARCOS WAS A HARD CASE, a street-wise banger and a crack addict. He never smiled. He did his first

three month trip through the Rehab Center keeping to himself, closed up, boxed in and on the defensive. He listened, he did what he was told but not one thing more. He flat refused the spiritual aspect of recovery. He would NOT let anyone into his heart much less turn control of his will and his life to another. No, that would be death on the street. It is estimated that well over a hundred gang and drug related deaths occur daily in Honduras, a nation roughly the size and shape of South Carolina. And these figures are rising daily. So it made a sort of short term sense for him to keep control of his own life. But in the long term, that is fatal for an addict. It is only through the grace of Jesus that an addict or alcoholic can maintain long term, growing sobriety. Though some may question that, saying that a generic recovery program is all they need, yet my experience tells me otherwise. I knew different. And so did Marcos. Marcos left the Rehab Center in La Esperanza, clean and, on the surface, cleaned up yet within a month he was back on crack, or

'piedras' as it is known here. I have it on good authority from those on the street that La Esperanza has the cheapest and most plentiful supply of crack cocaine anywhere in the country. I t s e l l s fo r penn ies . The 'poochers' (slang for pushers) own the wee hours of the night and more and more frequently gunshots pierce the night air and dawn's light finds another body in the street. The problem is growing rapidly along with theft and robbery to support the addiction. Just recently, a late teen couple, (she was 8 months pregnant) were gunned down in the dark evening on a dirt street having been summoned to a drug deal by phone. The mother belonged to one of our churches and was inconsolable. Marcos knew the price for leaving the gangs and getting clean. Marcos made it back to the Center. With him came Misael, a fifteen year old crack addict and close associate of the gunned down couple. Knowing the gunmen said they had missed two of their intended targets, everyone else fled the Center, afraid that the gunmen ('sicarios' in Spanish) would come to the Center looking for Misael. They returned after things quieted down. But Marcos was harder than ever, a shell of tough living covering a scared young man. He listened, once again, quietly and thoughtfully, yet with no hope or peace and no prospects for a long and fruitful life.

Marcos

Page 10: Telling HisStory

I walk the two miles down the valley and up the side of the mountain before dawn each morning, thinking and praying for the men. This morning I walked into the Center and Marcos sat in his chair grinning from ear to ear. He was positively beaming. Last night he had surrendered his life to Jesus Christ and knew true freedom. I had asked my closest friend, Pastor Paulino to come the afternoon before and share his story with the men. Paulino had also fought and won his own battle with alcohol many years before. He reached them as only a fellow national can. Marcos accepted the Lord, as did Misael and Manuel. Turning over a new leaf may provide temporary relief but receiving a new life in Christ shows the promise of a bright new day.” TR and Rhonda also teach leather carving, computer skills and English to discipleship classes in local churches as well as providing counseling for pastors and teachers here in La Esperanza. Due to the current financial situation in the U.S. they have not been able to minister throughout Central America anymore.

In his ususal humor TR discounted a myth that many may have about missionaries; “Missionaries are NOT levitating, spiritual giants!”

He went on to say that if this ministry were to disappear alcoholics and addicts would die horribly, the sick and suffering would not be healed, those won to the Lord would not be discipled and the unsaved would not be given the opportunity to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior.

THE NEEDS ARE GREAT BUT GOD IS ABLE TO SUPPLY

EVERY NEED ACCORDING TO HIS RICHES

Current ministry needs are:

• “Brethren, pray for us.” ~1Th 5:25 First and foremost, keep TR and Rhonda and missionaries everywhere in your prayers. The battle is in the spiritual yet many are in areas of growing physical opposition and danger.

• In this trying fiscal time they need your financial support on a regular basis. They cannot function without your support. They are your hands and feet in Central America.

• Vehicles need replacing as they are over 17 years old. One of these vehicles is the one they drove down

here, pulling a trailer with all their possessions. • The Rehab Center needs monthly donations to pay for the mens food as well as lights and other needs.

Please keep your heart before the Father as to how you may join them in this Kingdom work!

To contact TR and Rhonda Sweeney about Misioneros de la Frontera Email: [email protected]

Tax deductible donations - please designate for the Sweeneys and make checks to Grace Mission Corps1725 Sibley RoadAugusta, Georgia 30909

Page 11: Telling HisStory

THE TANZANIA TOOL BOX

Just recently I had the opportunity to interview Mike Stephens, here in Augusta. He is a retired hospital administrator who is now involved with several local mission efforts as well as a foreign outreach called Tanzania Tool Box. - read more

Page 12: Telling HisStory

Mike said that his life before Christ and before ministry was lived under the belief that he had to be “in charge.” He believed he was totally in control. He worked 34 years as a nursing home administrator. He also served in the military working in phsychiatric care here at home and also in Viet Nam.

Mike grew up in an orphanage. That is one of the things that makes his story very interesting since The Tanzania Tool Box is building an orphanage school in Africa.

I asked him when his “ah-hah” moment came and he realized he needed to have a change in his life. That moment came at an Amway convention as he listened to a well known speaker preach the gospel. Mike said he was already a deacon in a well to do church in Augusta, faithful in attendance and thought he was “okay” because he was a good man. He said he looked good, smelled good, but he stunk on the inside because he was dead spiritually. He realized when the speaker shared that something was missing in his life. He was 40 years old and still not saved.

He and his wife, Lynn, came home from that meeting and began to search for the missing piece. They began a process of visiting other churches. They started attending a church meeting at Gracewood

Elementary School and for the first time experienced praise and worship music and what Mike called “real preaching.” They both felt like they had found a home. After a year of participating in that church, Mike heard about a movement called Cursillo - a couples 3 day retreat. He said at that point he still had not been saved but was really seeking the Lord. It was on that retreat he finally discovered what was missing in his life.

Shortly after this experience Mike was invited by a friend to go to Stone Mountain Correctional Institution to take part in the Kyros Prison Ministry. It was through the process of being involved in this ministry that Mike discovered his control issues needed to be dealt with. He had prepared diligently to give a talk at the prison, had all his ducks in a row, and was ready to speak when he discovered all his notes and preparation were completely in disarray. He told the Lord, “Okay, I understand, you are in charge - not me.” He proceeded to speak as the Lord directed.

Mike has a heart for young people. He uses the experiences of his own life to relate to them and share the Lord. He is actively involved in the Friendship Center, a day program for the mentally ill, where he serves as their “handy man.” Locally, Mike has had a recycling

ministry for ten years where he picks up all sorts of items from those who no longer need them and distributes them to those who do. He also builds ramps and decks for handicapped who cannot afford to pay to have them built. He has participated in the Walk to Emmaus ministry and helped begin the Tres Dias Community.

Mike says the best thing he has learned from all these experiences is that he is not in charge! He said he likes being “out of control.”

A few years ago Mike had the opportunity to go to Africa on his first mission trip. He took his tool belt and when he got on site he supplied only the second hammer for a construction project in Morogor, Tanzania. The project was at an orphanage. That had a special meaning for Mike since he was raised by nuns in an orpanage. He said God spoke to him and said, “you are coming back to Morogoro. You are not finished.”

Mike Stephens has a local distribution ministry as well as The Tanzania Tool Box.

School Room at orphanage

Page 13: Telling HisStory

While walking around Lowes, his favorite store, he noticed all the tools. He began to think how limited the people in Morogoro were as far as tools were concerned. He started picking out hand tools that would be needed to build more facilities at the orphanage to send back to the people there. That is when Tanzania Tool Box was born. His slogan is “to some this is a tool box, to others it’s a survival kit.”

He went back to the mission field the following year and began building on a school. Euzima primary school was begun. Mike went for a 30 day trip, shipped all the tools, and when he was on site he set up training for the men to learn to use the tools. Materials had already been purchased for the school, but they did not have a permit as yet. His feeling of needing to “be in control” began to rise in him because he had all this stuff ready to build but couldn’t begin without a permit. He was encouraged by a friend to

relax because God was in control and would provide what was needed.

Later that day while Mike was sitting under the tent for shade a caravan of buses came to the site. It was the Mayor, his cabinet and their wives. They came to meet the guy who was going to build this school in his country. They wanted to know why he was doing it and how. Mike laid out the plans, told his story and waited for a response.

The Mayor turned and began speaking to his cabinet. Mike was a bit concerned because he didn’t understand Swahili. However, his

interpreter told him not to worry because the Mayor was enthusiastic about the project. He was telling his cabinet that they were to provide whatever was needed to make sure the project was done, including more land for the school! After he completed his conversation with his cabinet, the Mayor gave Mike the permit to begin construction.

Within three weeks the first three rooms had been walled up. The 20 men who helped in the constuction received the tools they had learned to use for their own. Now they can go and build something else with their new knowlege and tools.

Mike exclaimed, “Everything I do is fun!” But his biggest struggle is keeping up with God. “God pours in and I pour out. I can’t pass it on quick enough.” His greatest joy is helping others. That is why his email address is “winglesservant.” Mike said the way he gets blessed is by blessing others.

A “tool box” can be bought at LOWES for $100.00

Making block by hand in Tanzania

The Mayor’s staff

Page 14: Telling HisStory

TANZANIA PICS

“You don’t have to be qualified to minister,” said Mike. “You just need to be willing and understand you are not in control.”

About ninety percent of the financing for Mike’s projects comes from his own income. He said he does receive some help periodically. He estimates that he has spent around $40,000.00 on work that is a million dollar project.

For more information on the Tanzania Tool Box you can view a video by clicking here. http://youtu.be/fp65PVjbPB8

You can also contact Mike Stephens at [email protected]

TANZANIA TOOL BOX ITEMS

1. HAMMER

2. PLIERS

3. SCREWDRIVER

4. TROWEL

5. KNIFE

6. CHISEL

7. SAW

8. FILES

9. SPEED SQUARE

10.LEVEL

11. TAPE MEASURE

All can be purchased at

Lowes for around $100.00